Lost and Found
by Genkai-chan
Summary: A one shot story of how Pepper lost something very dear to her heart. Can Tony Stark find it? He's Iron Man, he should be able to fix any problem that dares show its face in front of him and his woman. Set between Iron Man 2 and The Avengers. A Pepperony story sparked from a Tumblr prompt. Read and Review.


**A/n:** Due to personal issues, I had to put my Pepperony and Borra Month fanfics on hold for a few weeks (I plan on returning on the correct days next month) but I do want to post some one shots in the meantime to help my muse. So this is based on a prompt given to me on tumblr. The user requested that Pepper be found crying and Tony worries but soon finds out she just lost her phone. A cute one shot, taking place a bit before Avengers.

**Pair:** Tony and Pepper

**Word Count:** 1076

**Title:** Lost and Found

* * *

It had been a long day for Tony Stark. Pepper had pushed him out the door at an ungodly hour, who is up at eight in the morning anyway? And then his whole morning had been filled with board meetings and paper work. Then he only got a few minutes to shove at least three dollar cheese burgers down his throat before he was thrown back into the clutches of a corporate life. Pepper couldn't tend to the duties as usual because she was busy looking over the reconstruction of their home in Malibu. They had been going out for a while and now she was moving in with him. It was one hell of a big step for them both so Pepper was trying to get everything perfect, down to the last detail. So she was having things moved in, move around, and even tossed out.

Tony's large mansion wasn't too lived in, but that would all change. Pepper envisioned them staying in on Saturday night, eating take out and watching old black and white movies while cuddling in his room, away from the eyes of any sneaky paparazzi. Her day had been productive but she had been so busy that she lost track of her blackberry. Usually it was glued to her hand at all times. It was her lifeline to work and to her boyfriend. It was around seven in the evening when Tony had arrived home. The movers had gone home for the day and judging by the state of things, everything would be finished in a day. Pepper worked fast. "Pep?" He called out. Something was out of place. He looked at his cell phone, usually they texted throughout the day but around three or four, she dropped off the face of the earth. "Pepper?" He called out and made his way upstairs.

There he could hear faint cries and upon following the noise, they turned into gut wrenching sobs. He opened the door to her office which was usual tidy and spotless but it was in such disarray he wondered if it had been ransacked. And in the middle of the mess of papers and drawers thrown about and boxes tossed aside, flooding the room, was his girl on her knees, holding onto her body. "Pepper!" He knelt down in front of her after having to push away some items for space. He put his hands on her shoulders and her mascara stained cheeks came into view. Pepper's watery blue eyes and flushed face and trembling features made his heart drop down to his workshop below. "What happened?" Of course Tony was expecting the worse. Someone must have died, or something.

"I can't..." She began to gasp, trying to function enough to muster up a few lines of explanation. Tony began to further worry now, she couldn't what? Move in? Stay with him? Work?

"Pepper, whatever it is, we can fix it...please...what's wrong? Are you hurt?" He pleaded for clarity.

"I can't...I can't...I just can't. I've done...I've..." She looked around at her office and the genius could not figure it would. What couldn't she do? What had she done? Tony was starting to panic, as he had never seen her this broken before. "I've tried so hard." Pepper cried, new tears now running down her face. Tony leaned in and kissed her head, bringing up his fingers to wipe her face gently.

"Calm down Pepper, just breathe." He rubbed her back softly. "What can't you do? What can I do to help?" He was Iron Man, he should be able to do something for his woman!

"I can't...I can't find it." She whimpered.

"Find what?" He was once again worried, assuming the worst. She couldn't find the will to live him, to do anything right?

"My blackberry!" With the solemn truth finally out and hanging in the open air, she went back to crying hysterically like a child without their safety blanket. "I need it, Tony!" Pepper wailed and buried her face into his chest, crying ever louder. The man just sat there and blinked, not sure if he heard right or if she was joking. This had to be joke. But she was taking it pretty far and as Tony started to think about it, he realized the severity of the issue. She lost her tie to her work, her livelihood, him. If something had happened to either one, contact would have been much harder. He hugged her.

"We can find it, don't worry." Of course he knew telling her not to worry might fall on deaf ears but the man managed to pull her up to her weak feet and take her into his bedroom. "Now you sit here, I will go and look for it. Hell, I'll have JARVIS scan the house until we find it." Tony said and kissed her forehead. Then he shut the door and headed to her office to clean up and look there first. It took him about an hour to locate the prized possession and he headed up to give it back to the anxious redhead. "Hey Pep." He opened the door and pulled the phone out of his pocket and handed it to her. "I think you've missed a message." He smiled as she leaped up and grabbed it and looked at it, ignoring the dozens of e mails and missed calls.

Of course it had been on silent and the battery was now running low but she took the time to see Tony's message. It was been sent not long ago and it said he loved her. Pepper smiled to him and embraced him while kissing him. "I love you too. Thank you, Tony." Pepper couldn't be happier at that moment. It felt like she was whole again, like her heart was back where it belonged. She looked up into her man's eyes and knew they were going to be just fine together. "So where was it?" She asked him.

"Secret." Tony laughed gently and rubbed her back.

"Tony!"

"Nope, you lost it and I found it, that's how it works." He smirked. "Just like I was lost and you found me."

"Well we all know where you were..." Pepper said.

"And it was nowhere compared to being in your arms." He kissed her again and then she charged the phone while they had dinner and talked about their plans for New York City within the next few months. And of course then she would make sure never to lose her blackberry or Tony again.


End file.
